A device for feeding bees, comprising a rigid heat-absorptive housing having a chamber therein, where the chamber has a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough. The housing has an access port which allows a viscous syrup to be poured into the chamber. The port may be reversibly sealed. The device further includes a system for mounting said housing on top of a beehive. The plurality of holes in the bottom of the chamber are large enough to allow a bee to access the viscous syrup through the holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping through the holes.
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1. A device for feeding bees, comprising:
a) a rigid heat-absorptive housing, said housing being adapted to fit inside of a first hive body; b) a chamber within said housing, said chamber having a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough; c) at least one access port in said housing; and d) a means for mounting said housing on top of a second hive body, said mounting means being connected with one of a lower portion of a side wall of said housing and a bottom of said housing; wherein said plurality of holes in the bottom of said chamber are large enough to allow a bee to access a viscous syrup through said plurality of holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping therethrough.
4. A device for feeding bees, comprising:
a) a rigid heat-absorptive housing comprising a continuous side wall, said housing being adapted to fit inside of a first hive body; b) a chamber within said housing, said chamber having a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough; c) at least one access port in said housing; and d) a means for mounting said housing on top of a second hive body, said mounting means comprising a flange extending outwardly from said side wall, wherein said flange is adapted to be positioned on top of an outer wall of said second hive body, and beneath an outer wall of said first hive body; wherein said plurality of holes in the bottom of said chamber are large enough to allow a bee to access a viscous syrup through said plurality of holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping therethrough.
9. A device for culturing bees, comprising:
a) a first hive body adapted to contain bees, said first hive body having an outer wall and an open top; b) a second hive body mounted on top of the first hive body, said second hive body having an outer wall; c) a bee feeder mounted over the open top of the first hive body, said bee feeder comprising: 1) a rigid heat-absorptive housing positioned inside the second hive body; 2) a chamber within said housing, said chamber having a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough; 3) an access port in said housing, said port allowing a viscous syrup to be poured into said chamber, where said port may be reversibly sealed; and 4) a means for mounting said housing on top of the top surface of said first hive body, said mounting means being connected with one of a lower portion of a side wall of said housing and a bottom of said housing; wherein said plurality of holes in the bottom of said chamber are large enough to allow the bees within the hive to access the viscous syrup through said plurality of holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping into the hive.
12. A device for culturing bees, comprising:
a) a first hive body adapted to contain bees, said first hive body having an outer wall and an open top; b) a second hive body mounted on top of the first hive body, said second hive body having an outer wall; c) a bee feeder mounted over the open top of the first hive body, said bee feeder comprising: 1) a rigid heat-absorptive housing positioned inside the second hive body; 2) a chamber within said housing, said chamber having a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough; 3) an access port in said housing said port allowing a viscous syrup to be poured into said chamber, where said port may be reversibly sealed; and 4) a means for mounting said housing on top of the tot surface of said first hive body; wherein said plurality of holes in the bottom of said chamber are large enough to allow the bees within the hive to access the viscous syrup through said plurality of holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping into the hive; and wherein said housing comprises a continuous side wall, and said mounting means comprises a flange extending outwardly from said side wall, said flange being positioned between the outer wall of the first hive body and the outer wall of the second hive body.
17. A method of bee husbandry using a bee feeder assembly, said bee feeder assembly comprising:
a feeder hive body having an outer wall and an open bottom; a rigid heat-absorptive housing positioned inside of the feeder hive body; a chamber within said housing, said chamber having a bottom surface with a plurality of holes therethrough; at least one access port in said housing; and a mounting flange attached to the exterior of said housing; wherein said method comprises the steps of: a) maintaining a colony of bees in an artificial hive, said artificial hive comprising: a first hive body adapted to contain a queen bee and a plurality of worker bees, said first hive body having an outer wall and an open top; a second hive body mounted on top of the first hive body, said second hive body having an outer wall; and a means for allowing the worker bees, but not the queen bee, to enter the second hive body; b) allowing the worker bees to store honey in the second hive body, c) removing the second hive body from the artificial hive when the average temperature falls below a predetermined level; d) positioning the bee feeder assembly on said first hive body by positioning the outer wall of the feeder hive body on top of the outer wall of the first hive body, with the mounting flange being positioned therebetween; e) filling the interior of the chamber with a syrup which is palatable to bees and allowing the bees to feed on said syrup through said plurality of holes; and f) replacing the bee feeder assembly with the second hive body when the average temperature rises above said predetermined level.
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This invention relates to a novel device for feeding nesting insects. More particularly, it relates to a device for holding a palatable syrup in proximity to a hive so that it may safely be accessed by bees within the hive. It further relates to a feeding device for bees which may be conveniently refilled without opening the hive.
Bees are commonly cultivated in hives to obtain honey and to pollinate crops. The architecture of a common beehive will be described here. In the lower part of the hive is the brood chamber. The brood chamber is a rectangular box, or hive body, filled with frames. These frames are hung inside the brood chamber. Each frame is made from a rigid rectangular support for a thin sheet of beeswax with a hexagonal pattern pressed into it, or for a plastic sheet coated with a thin layer of wax. This sheet serves as a foundation on which the bees will build their comb. The brood chamber serves as a housing for the queen bee and her colony. The queen bee lays eggs in the cells of the comb in the brood chamber. An opening in the bottom of the brood chamber allows the worker bees to leave the hive.
The top of the brood chamber is covered with a grill with bars spaced just far enough apart that worker bees, but not queen bees, can pass therethrough. This grill, known as a queen excluder, prevents the queen bee from leaving the brood chamber. A second hive body filled with frames is positioned above the brood chamber. The worker bees will construct comb on the frames in the second hive body. Since the queen excluder prevents the queen from entering this second hive body to lay eggs, the cells of the comb in the second hive body will be used by the worker bees to store honey. When the comb in this second hive body is full of honey, the second hive body may be removed and replaced with new hive body containing a new set of frames.
During months when bees are active but the plants, which serve as their source of food, are not producing nectar or flowering, the bees in the hive feed on the honey therein. Generally, this occurs during fall and winter. As a result, bee keepers normally supply the bees with an alternate food source so they will not consume honey from the hive, and to prevent bee starvation from a lack of stored honey in the hive. This has involved making appropriate feeding solutions, such as sugar solutions or syrup, available to the bees. While feeding sugar solution or syrup to bees prevents them from starving, the bee keepers are frequently forced to develop awkward devices to feed the bees. Many of these devices have significant disadvantages, such as a lack of insulation, which allows a significant amount of heat to be lost from the hive. In cooler climates, this loss of heat is important because it significantly affects bee productivity. Bees typically must have a thoracic temperature of approximately 85°C F. to sustain flight. If the hive temperature falls significantly below this level, the bees will be unable to fly from the hive to feed from plants. As a result, honey production declines and they will be unable to fulfill their role in plant pollination. Additionally, if the hive temperature drops below 64°C F., honey bees cluster, packing together into a carefully structured, compact ball. This allows the bees to survive cold weather, but reduces honey production. Thus, for maximum honey productivity, it is important that the bee feeder on the hive should not allow the hive temperature to drop significantly.
Several devices for feeding bees have been proposed. Kindall, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,581, discloses a container for a liquid bee syrup which takes the form of a container with a single opening. The opening is closed with a cover having holes to allow bees within a hive to access the syrup. The container is placed on top of a hive, with the covered opening directed downwardly into the hive. The container is refilled by removing the feeder from the hive and refilling the container through the opening. This has the disadvantage that the bees inside the hive are exposed to the outside environment while refilling the feeder. In colder weather, this can result in a dramatic reduction in hive temperature. Additionally, the device must be removed from the hive in order to refill it, thereby increasing the likelihood of disturbing the hive and agitating the bees. This can cause the bees to sting the beekeeper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,329, issued to Kozlowwicz, shows a bee feeder comprising a molded plastic receptacle adapted to be mounted on top of a hive body. The receptacle includes side walls cooperatively defining a rectangular shape and a bottom wall that extends between the side walls to define an upwardly opening trough for receiving liquid feed. A hollow projection with an upwardly-directed opening extends from the bottom wall within the interior of the receptacle, allowing bees to pass through the bottom wall of the feeder. The bees are therefore able to pass back and forth from the hive to the feeder. A grid covers the projection opening in a spaced relationship, extending downwardly to the bottom wall in a spaced relationship to the projection. The bees gain access to the feed by crawling between the grid and the projection to the feed within the trough. The feeder has the disadvantages that the trough is open to the air, allowing contaminants to enter the feed. Also, the hollow projection in the feeder includes an opening directly into the hive. This provides a route for heat to be lost from the hive through the feeder.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,056,783, issued to Enfelder, shows a bee feeder comprising a box with a top opening covered with a sliding cover, allowing the feeder to be filled with solid sugar grains. The box is positioned over an opening in the top of a hive, and a screen at the bottom of the box retains the sugar in the box, while allowing the bees to reach the sugar. The box is not intended to contain liquid food; in fact, to prevent liquid from building up in the hive, a port is provided in the top of the box through which liquid may be drained. This process has two disadvantages: first, food may be spilled through the port during the drainage process, resulting in waste of the bee food; and second, each time the feeder is drained, the feeder must be removed from the hive. This exposes the bees inside the hive to the outside environment, resulting in potential cooling of the hive. Further, removal of the feeder may disturb the hive, resulting in a greater likelihood of the bee keeper being stung.
There is currently an unmet need for a safer bee feeder that allows the beekeeper to conveniently refill the feeder without significant risk of agitating the bees within the hive.
Further, there is a need for a bee feeder that does not expose the interior of the hive to extreme environmental changes.
The current invention provides an improved bee feeder, which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
In light of the present need for an improved bee feeder, a brief summary of the present invention is presented. Some simplifications and omission may be made in the following summary, which is intended to highlight and introduce some aspects of the present invention, but not to limit its scope. Detailed descriptions of a preferred exemplary embodiment adequate to allow those of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention concepts will follow in later sections.
The current invention provides a device for feeding bees nesting in an artificial hive structure. The device holds a quantity of liquid food for bees, without allowing the food to drip into the hive and drown the bees. The device can be conveniently filled and refilled with minimal risk of stings to the beekeeper, without opening the hive. Additionally, the device may be thermally insulated to prevent loss of heat through the feeder.
More particularly, the inventive device for feeding bees is constructed with a rigid heat-absorptive housing or hive body. Inside the housing is a chamber for holding a supply of viscous syrup which is palatable to bees. The chamber has a bottom surface with a plurality of holes passing therethrough. These holes are large enough to allow a bee to access the viscous syrup through the holes, but small enough to prevent the viscous syrup from dripping therethrough. An access port in said housing allows the viscous syrup to be poured into the chamber. A means for mounting said housing on top of a beehive is also provided.
The current invention provides an improved bee feeding device having a simple construction which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art. The new feeder is not firmly mounted to the bee hive. The feeder may be refilled without removing the feeder from the hive or exposing the hive to the outside environment.
In order to better understand the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals refer to like components or steps, there are disclosed broad aspects of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. As shown in
In one embodiment of the current invention, flange 104 extends from the side wall 101 of the housing 100, and may be used to position the bee feeder on the top of an artificial hive body (not shown in FIG. 1). At least two hand grips 108 are present in the side wall 101, positioned on opposite sides of wall 101. In the embodiment pictured in
As shown in
As shown in
If preferred, the bottom 103 does not have to have a constant thickness. The area 301 of the surface through which holes 202 pass may be from 1 to 4 mm thick, allowing bees to reach through the holes. The remaining portion of surface 103 may be made thicker, for extra strength. The holes 202 must be wide enough to allow the bees to pass their tongues therethrough, and typically have a diameter of between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm, roughly corresponding to a size of between 24 gauge and 32 gauge, as defined by the American Wire Gauge (AWG) standard. In a most preferred embodiment, holes 202 are 28 or 29 gauge holes.
In use, the syrup is poured through port 201 into the housing. Cover 105 is then sealed in an air-tight fashion over port 201. The syrup is retained in the housing by the small size of holes 202, and also by air pressure, as a result of a vacuum forming over the syrup in the air-tight housing.
As shown in
There is no need to rigidly mount the improved bee feeder to the lower hive body 500, making it easier for the beekeeper to adjust the positioning of the feeder relative to the hive body, if needed. Once the feeder is properly positioned, the bees within hive body 500 will effectively glue the feeder into position with propolis, or bee glue.
An additional feature of the feeder is a removable insulating cover 701, shown in
Insulating cover 701 helps reduce the flow of heat out of the hive through the feeder in cooler weather, thereby helping to maintain a roughly constant temperature within the hive. This helps maintain the health and productivity of the bees within the colony. The cover also helps minimize heat flow out of the hive and feeder when cover 105 is removed from port 201.
The use of the inventive bee feeder will now be described. The bee keeper will normally maintain a colony of bees in an artificial bee hive, shown in FIG. 8. The artificial hive includes a first hive body 501 adapted to contain a queen bee and a plurality of worker bees, where the first hive body has an outer wall and an open top. An opening in the bottom of the first hive body (not shown) allows the worker bees to freely enter and leave the hive in search of nectar from plants. A second hive body 801 having an outer wall is mounted on top of the first hive body by positioning the outer wall of the second hive body on top of the outer wall of the first hive body. Both hive bodies 501 and 801 contain a plurality of frames 503, on which the worker bees will construct a comb. In between the two hive bodies is a queen excluder 802 (a metal grill, shown in cross section in FIG. 8), which prevents the queen bee from entering the second hive body. As a result, the queen bee is only able to lay eggs in the cells of the comb in the lower hive body 501, which serves as the brood chamber. The worker bees therefore use the cells in the comb of the second hive body to store honey. Cover 602 is then positioned on hive body 801
As long as the environment is conducive to honey production by the bees, the bee keeper allows the worker bees to store honey in the second hive body. However, in the fall and winter, when the mean temperature in the hive falls to a point that the bees begin to cluster, little or honey is produced by the bees. In fact, the bees will begin to consume the honey from the hive. At this point, the bee keeper should remove the second hive body from the artificial hive and replace it with the inventive bee feeder. This is done by positioning the outer wall of a feeder hive body 501a on top of the outer wall of the first hive body, with the mounting flange 104 being positioned therebetween, as shown in FIG. 6. Cover 602 is then positioned on hive body 501a. Through port 201, the interior of the chamber of the bee feeder housing is filled with a syrup which is palatable to bees. This syrup serves as an alternative food source for the bees. The bees feed on said syrup through the holes 202 in the bottom of the feeder. When the temperature in the hive rises to the point that the bees stop clustering and begin to produce honey again, the bee feeder assembly may be replaced with a second hive body to serve as a repository for honey.
Although the present invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that the invention is capable of other different embodiments, and its details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects. As is readily apparent to those skilled in the art, variations and modifications can be affected while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure, description, and figures are for illustrative purposes only, and do not in any way limit the invention, which is defined only by the claims.
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